Newman wins at Phoenix: #31-Ryan Newman won the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway for his 1st win of the season, 2nd win at Phoenix, his first for Richard Childress Racing and 18th career win. Newman's last win was at Indianapolis in July 2013.
#42-Larson finished second (for the 4th time in the last five races) followed by #18-Busch, $17-Stenhouse Jr., #2-Keselowski, #4-Harvick, #19-Suarez(career best), #77-Jones(career best), #48-Johnson and $11-Hamlin.
Pole winner, #22-Logano, led 82 laps but had a pit road speeding penalty mid-way in the race and then with 6 laps to go in the race had a tire explode and hit the wall, finishing 31st.
#18-Kyle Busch led the most laps at 114 and had a commanding lead with 6 laps to go before Logano hit the wall and brought out the caution.
There were 14 lead changes among 8 drivers and 8 cautions for 45 yellow flag laps.
The average speed was 104.271mph.Scheduled Race Re-Airs: Sunday, March 19 at 10:00pm/et on FS1; Monday, March 20 at 6:30am/et on FS1; Monday, March 20 at 9:30am/et on FS2
See unofficial race results, awards, laps led, cautions and more at:Unofficial Race Results page (pdf)Penalty Report (pdf).Cumulative Report (pdf).
See OFFICIAL race results & points standings on the Official Race & Points Report (pdf).(3-19-2017)

Race recap: Newman wins at Phoenix; Larson 2nd...again When the winner of Sunday's Camping World 500 was announced, officials might have thought for a moment that they got the wrong envelope, a la Warren Beatty at the Oscars. But, no, there was no mistake. Ryan Newman was the unexpected winner of the fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season after a late caution gave his #31 Richard Childress Racing team the chance to break a drought dating to 2013. Staying out on old tires for a two-lap overtime run at Phoenix International Raceway, Newman pulled away when eventual fourth-place finisher Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (who stayed out during the final caution) and runner-up Kyle Larson (who pitted for two tires) got together in the first corner after the final restart on Lap 313. Newman's 18th career victory was his second at Phoenix but his first since he won the Brickyard 400 on July 28, 2013, driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. The win was RCR's first since Kevin Harvick took the checkered flag on Nov. 10, 2013 at Phoenix before departing for Stewart-Haas the following year.[More](3-19-2017)

Phoenix winning driver, Ryan Newman's comments
Q) IN THE DESERT, THE DROUGHT COMES TO AN END FOR RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING AND RYAN NEWMAN. HOW GOOD DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK HERE IN VICTORY LANE?Newman: "I've lost count; that's how long it's been. I've got to thank Grainger, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Monster Energy, for supporting our series, and Chevrolet. The list goes on and on. What a gutsy call by (crew chief) Luke (Lambert). I called for two tires and he called for none. I've won more races no tires than I have with four. I'm just proud of these guys. We had a good car all day. We kept it out of trouble and collected in the end."
Q) A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO YOU USED UP KYLE LARSON TO MAKE THE CHASE. WERE YOU THINKING ABOUT THAT AT ALL AS HE WAS CHASING YOU DOWN?Newman: "Trust me, I went into (Turn) 3 looking at my mirror. I knew he was down there; but it took my car forever to get going. I'm spent, man. I had the chills on lap 150. I'm done."(Team Chevy)(3-19-2017)

MENCS at Phoenix
- Ryan Newman: 1st win since July 2013 at Indianapolis; snaps 127-race winless streak
- Newman: 18th career NASCAR Cup Series win; 1st with Richard Childress Racing
- Newman: also snapped 77-race winless streak at Phoenix in April 2010
- 6th straight MENCS race that the final lead change came in the final 10 laps
- Richard Childress Racing: 106th NASCAR Cup Series win, first since Kevin Harvick left team following 2013 season (Harvick won 4 races that season)
- Kyle Larson: finished 2nd for 4th time in last 5 races; has 5 runner-up finishes since only Cup Series win last season
- Larson: 1 win, 9 2nd-place finishes, 7 3rd-place finishes in MENCS career
- Daniel Suarez (7th), Erik Jones (8th): both get 1st career Cup Series top-10 finish

Race Fast Facts - Phoenix:
#31-Ryan Newman won the 13th Annual Camping World 500, his 18th victory in 552 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2017.
With the victory, Newman ends a 127 race winlless drought. His last win came at Indianapolis in 2013.
This is his second victory and 12th top-10 finish in 30 races at Phoenix Raceway.
With the victory, Richard Childress Racing ends a 112 race winless drought. Its last win came at Phoenix in November of 2013 (Kevin Harvick).
#42-Kyle Larson (second) posted his third top-10 finish in seven races at Phoenix Raceway. It is his third top-10 finish in 2017.
#18-Kyle Busch (third) posted his 16th top-10 finish in 24 races at Phoenix Raceway.
#19-Daniel Suarez (seventh) was the highest finishing rookie.
#42-Kyle Larson leads the point standings by 6 points over #2-Brad Keselowski.
(NASCAR Integrated Sports Marketing)(3-19-2017)

Race Coverage of the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is scheduled for Sunday, March 19, 2016.Television (TV): FOX at 3:30 pm/et; Pre-Race show at 1:30pm/et on FS2 and 3:00pm/et on FOX; green flag approx. 3:44pm/etRadio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM Satellite NASCAR Radio 90Scheduled Race Re-Airs:
Sunday, March 19 at 10:00pm/et on FS1;
Monday, March 20 at 6:30am/et on FS1;
Monday, March 20 at 9:30am/et on FS2

Wave Around: how the wave around rule works: All vehicles between the leader and the caution vehicle at the start/finish line when the "one to go" signal is given by the starter are considered "Wave Around" eligible. "Wave Around" vehicles will not be permitted to enter pit road at any time during this yellow flag/caution period. "Wave Around" vehicles must receive the green flag on the race track before being permitted to enter pit road without a penalty. Vehicles under a penalty and the "Free Pass" vehicle will not be eligible to receive a "Wave Around".

Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway have been made.
With the field downsized to 40 cars, three pit stalls (1,11,15) have been eliminated, are not in play and don't count towards driving through more than three pit boxes.
Pole sitter #22-Logano chose pit stall 2, the first stall available [as do most pole sitters].
Outside pole sitter #21-Blaney took pit stall 16, with an opening in front of it.
#88-Earnhardt Jr., who starts 3rd, took pit stall 33, just before the start-finish line
The final pit stall (#43) was taken by #24-Elliott, who starts 7th.
To see where the drivers/teams pit stall is, see the pit selection chart on Jayski.com's Pit Stall Selection chart.(3-18-2017)

NASCAR Overtime (not called Green-White-Checkered anymore) Race Procedure: NASCAR allows a maximum of three restart attempts prior to the White Flag under NASCAR's Green-White-Checkered flag finish. If the leader has taken the White Flag and the caution flag is displayed, the field is frozen and the race will not be restarted. Previously, there was only one restart attempt. The procedure applies to all three national series. See rule and notes on the NASCAR Overtime rules/news/stats page.

Logano wins Phoenix pole: #22-Joey Logano won the Coors Light pole for the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway with speed of 137.321mph for his 1st pole of 2017, 1st at Phoenix and 18th of his career. Logano has won three races from the pole.
#21-Blaney will start 2nd followed by #88-Earnhardt Jr. #42-Larson, #1-McMurray, #2-Keselowski, #24-Elliott, #77-Jones, #18-Busch, #5-Kahne, #41-Busch and #20-Kenseth.
#22-Logano was fastest in the second round with a speed of 137.065mph, will start 1st
#42-Larson was fastest in the first round with a speed of 136.695mph, will start 4th
Driver(s) who will miss the race: none as 39 were entered for 40 spots
See round-by-round qualifying results on the Las Vegas qualifying results page (pdf) and the complete starting lineup on the Phoenix Starting Lineup page (pdf).(3-17-2017)

Joey Logano edges Ryan Blaney for pole position at Phoenix Apparently unfazed by last week's controversy at Las Vegas, Joey Logano put his No. 22 Team Penske Ford on the pole for Sunday's Camping World 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International raceway. In winning his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Phoenix and the 18th of his career, Logano saved his best lap for the third and decisive round, streaking around the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert in 26.216 seconds (137.321 mph). Ryan Blaney (136.877 mph) was second fastest in the money round in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, posting the best qualifying effort of his young career in Friday's time trials.

"I woke up this morning thinking about my race car, and how we could end up sitting here (as the pole winner) at the end of the day," said Logano, whose day at the track started with a meeting with NASCAR officials and Kyle Busch after last Sunday's last-lap collision between the drivers spilled over into a fistfight on pit road. In between, do I have to think about other things? Yeah, obviously, we had a meeting today. There's a lot of, I guess, distractions that we don't typically have. So it's a matter of managing those distractions and keeping your head back in the right spot for when it's game time."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified third and was on top of the board late in the third round until Blaney and Logano bettered his speed of 136.783 mph. Kyle Larson claimed the fourth starting spot, followed by Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray. A major point of emphasis for Blaney during the offseason was qualifying, which the driver felt wasn't as strong as it needed to be. Last week Blaney was third in Las Vegas time trials. On Friday, he was one spot better. "The last two weekends, we've shown really good speed in qualifying trim," Blaney said. "It's nice to have fast race cars. You've seen it the past two weeks. Our Wood Brothers car and the Penske group have been fast in qualifying trim. That's something to be proud of as the two organizations work well together. We just needed a little more to get there, but we were close."

Notes: The pole was the second straight for Team Penske, with Brad Keselowski having secured the top starting spot at Las Vegas. Keselowski will roll off sixth on Sunday. ... Kevin Harvick's mastery of Phoenix didn't extend to Friday's qualifying session. The eight-time Phoenix winner will start 23rd after posting his worst qualifying effort since the fall race of 2011.(NASCAR Wire Service)(3-17-2017)

Career best start for Blaney: Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team turned in another strong qualifying performance on Friday at the Phoenix International Raceway as Blaney posted a career-high second-place effort to complete an all-Ford front row for the start of Sunday's Camping World 500k. Just a week after qualifying third at Las Vegas, Blaney took the second spot at Phoenix, which was the best starting spot for the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team since Trevor Bayne started on the outside pole at Daytona International Speedway in July, 2011. "We sat down, my team and I, and tried to figure out what we need and what is more important, going from round to round, and what really helps our car," Blaney said. "The last two weekends we have shown really good speed in qualifying trim. It is nice to have fast race cars. You have seen it the past two weeks."(Wood Brothers Racing)(3-18-2017)

Phoenix International Raceway - Qualifying Fast Facts:
#22-Joey Logano won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 13th Annual Camping World 500 with a lap of 26.216 seconds, 137.321 mph.
This is his 18th pole in 295 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and third top-10 start in 2017.
This is his first pole in 17 races at Phoenix Raceway.
#21-Ryan Blaney (second) posted his second top-10 start of 2017 and his second in three races at Phoenix Raceway.
#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. (third) posted his seventh top-10 start at Phoenix Raceway. It is his second in four races this season.
#77-Erik Jones (eighth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR Statistics)(3-17-2016)

LOGANO POLE WINNING NOTES
· Joey Logano claimed his first Coors Light Pole Award of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season on Friday afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway.
· The pole was the 18th of Logano's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, coming in what will be his 295th career start.
· The pole is Logano's first at Phoenix International Raceway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
· The pole was the second consecutive for Team Penske, as teammate Brad Keselowski claimed the top starting position last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
· The pole is the eighth for team owner Roger Penske at Phoenix International Raceway, the first since Brad Keselowski in the 2014 spring race.
· The pole is the 121st for Team Penske in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
· Logano has now scored at least one pole position in the last eight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series seasons.
· The pole is the 12th for Logano in the #22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford.
(Team Penske)

Coverage of Qualifying for the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is scheduled for Friday, March 17, 2017 at 7:45pm/et.Television (TV): FS1, 7:30pm/etRadio: Live online at Motor Racing Network (MRN)Scheduled Qualifying Re-Air: Saturday, March 18 at 8:00am/et on FS1

Group qualifying under the three-round qualifying format:

• Round 1 -- All entries will have 20 minutes to post a qualifying time, after which the 24 registering the fastest laps will advance to the second round. Those failing to advance will be sorted based on first-round times in descending order (from fastest to slowest).

• Round 2 -- The 24 fastest from the first round will have 10 minutes to post a second-round qualifying time, with the 12 fastest advancing to a third round. Those not advancing will earn starting positions 13 through 24 based on time, again in descending order.

• Round 3 -- The final round will be five minutes in length. The fastest times from this session will determine the first (Coors Light Pole Award) through 12th starting positions.

There will be a seven-minute break between each round; teams may make adjustments to their entries only during the individual breaks. They will not be allowed to jack the vehicle or raise the hood, and once the car or truck enters the garage, it will no longer be permitted to return to the track for additional qualifying attempts.

Qualifying Order for the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is posted.
The first driver to be lined up on pit road will be #14-Bowyer.
The final driver lined up on pit road will be #95-McDowell.
The order is set by a random draw, how cars park on pit road before they qualify, held about an hour before the first practice.
After the first round, the cars lined up by speed.
For the qualifying order, see the Qualifying Order page (pdf).(3-17-2016)

Entry List for the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is posted, 39 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
36 teams with Charters are guaranteed to make the field. The rest need to make the field via qualifying / qualifying races / rules book (owners attempts/points).
Some of the drivers entered include: #15-Sorenson, #23-Gaulding, #33-JEarnhardt, #51-Hill*, #55-Cope*, #83-LaJoie*
Drivers who currently to not drive for a team with a Charter and need to race into the field: #51-Hill*, #55-Cope*, #83-LaJoie*.
Drivers who would miss the race if qualifying is canceled (least race attempts): none
Since only 39 cars are entered, all drivers will make the race.
See the full entry list on the Entry List (pdf)

How to Calculate Track Speeds: use the formula Speed = Distance divided by Time. Distance is Track Length, and Lap Time into Hours. Once hour is 3600 seconds, so the calculation for a 48 second lap at Daytona(2.5 miles) would be: Speed = 2.5 x (3600/48), = 2.5 x 75 = 187.500mph. For a 19 second lap at Bristol(.533 miles): Speed = .533 x (3600/19), = .533 x 189.474 = a speed of 100.990mph

Storyline - Goodyear Brings a Unique Tire Set-up to Tackle a Unique Track: The tire combination for Phoenix is unique to this track, just as the track itself is unique with its three distinct corners, relatively flat-banking and speedway characteristics. With Phoenix having been repaved in 2011, Goodyear's tire combination has continuously evolved as the track weathers-in and ages in the desert sun. As a result, both the left- and right-side tire codes and compounds are run only at Phoenix. This tire set-up was confirmed at a NASCAR organizational test and worked well with the 2017 rules package. The only other change from last year falls under the NASCAR tire set allocation reduction for the season, as Cup teams will have two less race sets than they had at Phoenix in 2016.

Notes: NASCAR Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series teams will run the same tire set-up at Phoenix this weekend . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that these teams ran at this track twice each in 2016 . . . NASCAR held an organizational test at Phoenix in late January . . . as on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams will not run liners in their tires at Phoenix.